The Municipal Administration, guided by Gorky Muñoz, invested nearly $400 million in a wall presumably made of earth to prevent flooding of the La Isla, Los Lagos and Primavera settlements, and despite the fact that the community warned that the ‘work’ was not going to serve, due to the strong rising of the Oro River and the El Salado ravine, the officials would have ignored the information provided by the victims.
These urban settlements are located near the El Limonar neighborhood, commune six of the capital Opita.
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The complaint made
In this sense, it was learned that due to the flooding of the sectors, La Isla, Los Lagos and Primavera, the Mayor’s Office of Gorky Muñoz issued a decree in order to build a retaining wall to prevent the flooding of the Oro River, will harm the 85 families residing in this area.
In this regard, the councilor of Neiva, Lourdes Paola Mateus, pointed out: “these settlements have problems with sudden flooding of two tributaries, which are widely known by the community in rainy seasons, and they are not normal, they are floods of very high severity, and Due to the location of the homes, water swirls and the level of the tributary can reach up to 1.50 centimeters in the homes.”
The complex thing for the residents is that this situation occurs every time it rains and occurs in the months of April and the end of the year.
A tragedy foretold?
And according to the lobbyist, there is a public policy that seeks to establish which settlements have risks that are mitigatable and can be legalized and which have to be relocated for different reasons.
“La Isla, La Primavera and Los Lagos are settlements that must be relocated urgently, because a tragedy has not happened there, because the universe is very large, but what happened in Mocoa, Putumayo, yes, the Mayor’s Offices can happen. “They don’t pay attention to this problem,” the lobbyist revealed.
There are 15 families directly affected by the rising of the Oro River and the El Salado ravine.
“From the Council, we made a call to the Mayor’s Office at the time, where we indicated that they relocated these people or carried out mitigation works in order to prevent the flood, in addition, because these emergencies occur in the early morning hours, when people are resting,” denounced Lourdes Mateus.
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They chose to build a jarillon
In this sense, the last Mayor’s Office carried out the construction of a jarillon, which is located in front of the La Isla settlement, but it was poorly designed, because it generated additional damming of water, despite the fact that the entire community warned the residents. Risk Management officials of the time, which was a poorly carried out work, they did not listen and the first flood literally lasted, they finished building it and after eight days it rained, the flow of the river increased, taking away 80% of it,” the councilor explained.
The work had a high cost and “we denounced it in the Municipal Council, that it was an enormous indolence of the Administration, to be ‘throwing’ that money into the river, of perhaps one of the poorest and most vulnerable communities. And that is where one wonders, if with those $400 million, it would not have been possible to relocate at least the 15 most affected families,” added the leader.
The councilor together with the representative of Neiva, Jerson Andrés Bastidas, visited the settlements again on March 24 of this year in order to verify the situation of the community.
“Without a doubt there we can be talking about a patrimonial detriment, in a very indolent way, and I have no hesitation in saying that it is one of the places with the greatest poverty that the city has and they literally threw away $400 million pesos without any shame river and people are still exposed to the flood,” declared the lobbyist.
Are there no contingency plans?
According to the official, it is important that the Mayor’s Office and the Risk Management Office have a contingency plan to have the measures ready and, in the event of an emergency, help the people who reside in these settlements.
“There is no contingency plan for the emergency and we are warning that there may be a tragedy in that place, and if measures are not taken it will be very serious,” said the leader.
The woman emphasizes that when you see the levels of poverty, there is no doubt that people are there, out of pure necessity.
“And in that critical aspect of the Administrations, that they stop governing and expressing themselves from the privilege of having a decent roof, there are people who do not have one and live there, because they have no other housing option and it is extreme poverty. There are children and older adults who cannot leave quickly when a sudden flood occurs,” the official explained.
The Municipal Ombudsman announced that they are going to investigate this particular jarrillón contract.
“We tracked down who the contracting company was and it corresponded to a construction company that had family relations with the previous mayor, they practically diverted resources to favor those close to the previous president,” revealed Lourdes Mateus.
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The voice of those affected
Then, Diario del Huila spoke with the affected people, who made known the vicissitudes they suffer during the rainy season. In this regard, Mireya Reyes, secretary of the Community Action Board of the La Isla settlement, said: “before doing the work, we told Mr. Armando Cabrera that the jarillon was not going to be of any use, due to the great amount of water that came down the river and the stream.”
“Likewise, we told them that instead of investing that money there, why not buy a lot and relocate the families, and (an official) told us that they did not perform that function, they only mitigated the risk,” added the spokesperson.
The fear caused by the rains is such that several people have left their houses closed and gone to stay with their families while the rain passes.
“We invite the mayor, Germán Casagua, to visit us and become aware of the problems we experience here. We have several people who are older adults, six with different abilities, and the truth is that when it rains hard, we don’t even have time to go out, we only have to hold on to God, because He is the only one who can help us so that it doesn’t happen to us. nothing,” added the JAC secretary.
They have already had two people who have almost drowned, and thanks to solidarity they have helped each other and no calamity has occurred. The floods occur around 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning.
For her part, Mardely Valbuena, a resident of the sector, related: “the problem that we have right now and the concern is the following, that when the mayor ordered that jarillon to be made, on the third day the Oro River rose and as you could see Today, absolutely nothing remained of that work, another flood and water entered our houses. “We ask the Mayor not to expect informative news like now, but rather a tragic one due to the floods.”
And instead of respecting the space of the Río del Oro, the work carried out took away about 20 meters for its ‘transit’.
Likewise, Ilia Hoyos, who has lived in the place for 14 years, said: “We always flood when it rains, we have lost belongings. The only thing the officials tell us is that if we knew about the flood, why did we go to live there?
And there are three Mayor’s Offices, and none has presented them with a solution. “I hope they relocate us, even if it is a lot to live in a dignified way, because every year it is the same problem,” the woman concluded.
